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In an article on the Chechenpress website the former Russian spy, who later joined MI6, wrote: "Putin was a paedophile".

He used a picture of the Russian leader kissing the stomach of a five-year-old boy near the Kremlin as the evidence of his abuse.

In the July 2006 post, he wrote: "Putin kneeled, lifted the boy’s T-shirt and kissed his stomach. Nobody can understand why the Russian president did such a strange thing as kissing the stomach of an unfamiliar small boy."

"The explanation may be found if we look carefully at the so-called 'blank spots' in Putin's biography."

When the Russian president was a student, Litvinenko alleged that he was filmed abusing children in a flat where another top politician had a threesome with prostitutes.

He said: "After graduating from the Andropov Institute, which prepares officers for the KGB intelligence service, Putin was not accepted into the foreign intelligence.

"His bosses learned that Putin was a peadophile. So say some people who knew Putin as a student at the Institute.

"Many years later, when Putin became the FSB director and was preparing for the presidency, he began to seek and destroy any compromising materials collected against him by the secret services over earlier years. It was not difficult, provided he himself was the FSB director.

"Among other things, Putin found videotapes in the FSB Internal Security directorate, which showed him making sex with some underage boys.'

The public inquiry into Mr Litvinenko's murder concluded today that Mr Putin "probably" ordered the assassination in October 2006.

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Putin “probably” ordered the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko

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Mr Litvinenko accused the Russian president of killing him on his death bed

When Putin was asked about the bizarre kiss, the Russian president insisted it was nothing more than a gesture of affection.

He explained: "People came up and I began talking to them, among them this little boy.

"He seemed to me very independent, sure of himself and at the same time defenceless so to speak, an innocent boy and a very nice little boy.

"I tell you honestly, I just wanted to stroke him like a kitten and it came out in this gesture. There is nothing behind it."

The child, named as Nikita Konkin, added: "I just liked him and he liked me very much."

The report said Mr Litvinenko's "highly personal attacks" were a significant motive.

Sir Robert Owen's long-awaited report claimed there were "several reasons" the Russians wanted him dead - including a vicious war of words between the two men.

The report said that the operation to kill Mr Litvinenko was probably approved by then-spy chief Nikolai Patrushev and also by Russian President VMr Putin.

Mr Litvinenko - who had accused the Russian president of killing him on his death bed - was killed by two spies who slipped who slipped the polonium into a teapot.

Sir Robert's inquiry named Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun as the two men responsible for carrying out the orders to kill Mr Litvinenko.

In his report, Sir Robert wrote: "I am sure that Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun knew that they were using a deadly poison and that they intended to kill Mr Litvinenko."

Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina urged Britain to impose sanctions on Russia after the release of the findings.

David Cameron condemned the "appalling" murder but admitted the UK still needs to work with Russia.

He was criticised for a "weak response" to the report but said Britain needed to talk to Russia to solve the Syrian conflict - with "clear eyes and a cold heart"

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Sir Robert's inquiry named Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun as the two men responsible

Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham said Cameron’s response did “not go anywhere near enough in answering the seriousness of the findings”

He added the Government had ensured Interpol warrants were in place for the two wanted men and had frozen their UK assets.

Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko called it "unacceptable" for Britain to link Russia to a state-sponsored assassination.

Mr Litvinenko made a string of personal attacks on the Russian leader in the years after their only face to face meeting in 1998.

The report said there was "undoubtedly a personal dimension to antagonism" between the two men.